April 30, 2011

Fresh Inspiration and Old Fish

The last weekend in April - the annual "Extravaganza" that brings folks from all up and down the East Coast to Adamstown to shop for antiques, and Yard Sale Weekend for ALL of the area housing developments, and - best of all - the Library Book Sale!  Thursday, Friday and Saturday - naturally, Margo and I went every day. We are very strategic in our book buying.  Day 1 - Snap up books by favorite authors and the very best in your areas of interest (for me, tea cozy mysteries, cookbooks and crafting books) before they disappear.  Day 2 - Check for any new preferred books that have made their way from storage under the table to the tabletop.  Day 3 - $4.50/bag! Get there early and grab up all the books and magazines that you looked at earlier and decided might be interesting, but maybe not a whole $1 or 50 cents worth of interesting. This is when I pick up dozens of cookbooks; even if the book only features one or two frightening foods, it's literally costing only pennies, so what the heck. I'll have tons of appalling new dining options to share with you over the next few weeks!

For today, though, I'll feature a recipe that is again from our friends at the Culinary Arts Institute, 200 ways to serve FISH and SEA FOOD (1971). The great thing about this recipe is that it has not one, but two major ingredients that are loathsome, thereby creating a synergy of loathsomeness that exceeds the loathsomeness of either awful ingredient on it's own. It should be a crime to do this to deviled eggs:

Kippered Herring Salad

1 14-ounce can kippered herring
2 1/2 cups diced cooked beets
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup French dressing
1 small head lettuce
6 deviled eggs

Remove bone and skin from herring and chop into large pieces. Drain beets and add to herring. Separate slices of onions into rings and add to beets. Sprinkle with French dressing and chill for an hour. Shred lettuce and arrange on salad plates. Place salad in a mound on lettuce and arrange deviled eggs around it.  Serves 6.